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The BHA have announced an AW Bumper meeting at Southwell on Wednesday – could be an interesting meeting, different from the usual AW fare – it will be interesting to see how many entries it attracts.
Races are:-
01:00 The Dine In The Pantry Maiden Open National Hunt Flat Race (Class 4)
01:30 The Southwell Racecourse “Junior” Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race (Class 4)
02:05 The Membership Of Southwell Golf Club Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race (Class 4)
02:40 The Book Your Tickets Online Mares’ Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race (Class 4)
03:15 The southwell-racecourse.co.uk Intermediate Open National Hunt Flat Race (Class 4)
03:50 The Southwell Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race (Class 4)
Races will be over a combination of 2m and 1m 6f
Full marks for giving it a go,
Fair play to them.
Lingfield attempted this today but got snowed off.
The likes of Nicky Henderson and Evan Williams had entries I believe
I might be suffering from Snow Fever,but the day i bet on Southwells "surface" is the day i will go to Skegness with my bucket and spade and bury myself in the sand!
I might be suffering from Snow Fever,but the day i bet on Southwells "surface" is the day i will go to Skegness with my bucket and spade and bury myself in the sand!
Betting is not compulsory APK – it is possible to go racing, enjoy it and not bet
I might be suffering from Snow Fever,but the day i bet on Southwells "surface" is the day i will go to Skegness with my bucket and spade and bury myself in the sand!
Betting is not compulsory APK – it is possible to go racing, enjoy it and not bet
Fair comment!
A good idea by the BHA as they have nothing to lose in doing it.
I can see the field sized holding up quite well and if this takes off then who knows maybe more could be held, Only a shame they cant run it at Goodwood or York in midwinter, now that would be worth going to.
Superb move by the BHA, and one which, if repeated a few times more during this cold snap, could prevent a possible problem a few weeks hence.
Once turf jumps racing returns to something approaching normality, work on the basis that some meetings could still be appreciably oversubscribed with runners at the overnight declaration stage as connections desperately seek to get an oft-postponed run into their charges.
Being among the lowliest races on many cards, both in terms of Class banding and prizemoney, bumpers are likely to be among those most heinously hit by balloting out.
Better, then, to get as many bumper horses out on the track by this means whilst the cold snap persists, than, say, have 50 horses holding out for just 10 available slots in many (most?) turf bumpers come the thaw.
Whilst we’re on the subject, I’d also beseech the BHA to consider laying on some all-hunter chase meetings immediately upon widespread resumption of jumps racing if the cold snap extends much past the February 1st start of the hunter season.
The reasons for that plea are not dissimilar – hunter chases are prioritised for balloting out ahead of more or less everything else, and a six-race card somewhere is going to sate the need to race hunter chasers after the disruption (but soon enough still to facilitate Cheltenham qualification) far more adequately than a balloting-restricted eight-runner contest here and there.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I think the problem with this sort of programme is how attractive it would be for spectators.
I would quite happily watch an all bumper card but I guess many will give it the thumbs down.
There have many times on relatively poor cards where the bumper contains the best quality horses on show but the element of guesswork is too much for the majority of punters. Many a time I would have preferred the bumper to have been the first race rather than the last race of the day.
Many a time I would have preferred the bumper to have been the first race rather than the last race of the day.
Quite agree with that last point, and not just on the qualitative issue. I’ve never been entirely sure that obliging often the least experienced horses to run on the worst, most chewed-up ground of the afternoon constitutes as pleasant a first or second racecourse experience as they should be given.
Also have some sympathy with the issue of six bumpers on the card possibly not being the most attractive to some. Maybe that isn’t helped by the narrower range of race distances over which such races are run in Britain compared to Ireland – any particular reason why 2m4f bumpers don’t exist over here yet, to give rise to, say, an afternoon of such races from 1m4f to 2m4f next Wednesday?
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I think the problem with this sort of programme is how attractive it would be for spectators.
I don’t think Southwell survives on the basis of the number of people passing through the turnstiles.
This programme fills a need for trainers and bookmakers and, like others above, I commend the BHA for trying something innovative.
Whilst we’re on the subject, I’d also beseech the BHA to consider laying on some all-hunter chase meetings immediately upon widespread resumption of jumps racing if the cold snap extends much past the February 1st start of the hunter season.
Well I’ll beseech it to cancel all the hunter chases scheduled for the rest of the season and replace them with worthwhile and interesting races, like some of those we’ve lost over recent weeks. I don’t suppose I’m leading a crusade on that one though.
[Have we got ying and yang emoticons?
]While the jumping has been off I’ve been wondering…
How long did the attempt at AW jumping last, what kind of races were there & what ultimately led to it being scrapped?
While the jumping has been off I’ve been wondering…
How long did the attempt at AW jumping last, what kind of races were there & what ultimately led to it being scrapped?
AW and dirt surfaces lack the "give" of turf, so a fall is more dangerous and the horses legs suffer more strain on landing.
Well I’ll beseech it to cancel all the hunter chases scheduled for the rest of the season and replace them with worthwhile and interesting races
I won’t dignify that with any further comment.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
- Total Posts 17716
I have to say hats off to Southwell management for this decision, its very creative and more importantly it works! they have a specialist surface which could be a fantastic learning ground for young NH horses.
How long did the attempt at AW jumping last, what kind of races were there & what ultimately led to it being scrapped?
I can’t remember the exact date on which AW jumping commenced, but it was definitely stopped with immediate effect after War Beat’s fatal fall in a Lingfield claiming handicap hurdle on February 24th, 1994. As Moe rightly infers, a slew of fatalities – some attributable to the unforgiving nature of the portable obstacles used at the time, some to the impact of falls, others more routine racing mishaps – had brought the discipline under scrutiny, and War Beat’s graphic and dreadful demise (miles clear when falling fatally at the last) was deemed the final straw.
For the greater part AW jumping meant AW hurdling, and principally low-grade handicaps, sellers and claimers (including, as in War Beat’s race, the now rarely if ever seen concept of the claiming handicap), though a few attempts at all-weather chasing were undertaken at Southwell as well, e.g. these races from October 7th, 1991;
http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result … &popup=yes
http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result … &popup=yes
(Note to quixallcrossett if she’s looking in – isn’t that one of your old favourites in the first race?
)The closest you can get to an all-weather chase in Europe nowadays is one example of the kind at the race meeting in Honzrath, Germany, though it’s not always an especially well-patronised contest, as AngloGerman on here can probably confirm.
The merits of reintroducing AW jumping nowadays, with artificial surface technology having moved on so far in the intervening 15 years, were discussed at length on the Forum last autumn – can’t find the thread just now. I’d certainly not be wholly averse to the idea, but the concerns some Forumites raised regarding those surfaces still being too unforgiving to cushion high-impact falls at great speed warrant due consideration.
HTH,
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
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